Cooling system

ABSTRACT

A cooling system includes a first pump group including a plurality of pumps that circulates a cooling medium to cool a first part; a second pump group including a plurality of pumps that circulates a cooling medium to cool a second part; a first power supply that supplies electric power to a part of the pumps of the first pump group and a part of the pumps of the second pump group; and a second power supply that supplies electric power to another part of the pumps of the first pump group and another part of the pumps of the second pump group.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of theprior Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-197274 filed on Sep. 7, 2012,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The embodiment discussed herein is related to a cooling system includinga pump group that circulates a cooling medium to cool a part.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally, a cooling system that circulates a cooling medium by apump for a cooling target has been known (for example, see JapaneseLaid-open Patent Publication No. 56-81287 and No. 2010-211363).

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a pump power supply configuration of acooling system according to a reference art.

In a cooling system illustrated in FIG. 4, a first pump group 210includes first-sixth pumps 211-216 (PUMP01-06) that circulate a coolingmedium to cool the first part not illustrated in the drawing. Meanwhile,a second pump group 220 includes first-sixth pumps 221-226 thatcirculate a cooling medium to cool the second part not illustrated inthe drawing.

A first power supply 231 (DDC #0:DC-DC converter) supplies electricpower to the pumps 211-216 of the first pump group. A second powersupply 232 (DDC #1:DC-DC converter) supplies electric power to the pumps221-226 of the second pump group 220.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the embodiment, a cooling system including afirst pump group including a plurality of pumps that circulates acooling medium to cool a first part; a second pump group including aplurality of pumps that circulates a cooling medium to cool a secondpart; a first power supply that supplies electric power to a part of thepumps of the first pump group and a part of the pumps of the second pumpgroup; and a second power supply that supplies electric power to anotherpart of the pumps of the first pump group and another part of the pumpsof the second pump group is provided.

The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attainedby means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out inthe claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and arenot restrictive of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an apparatus configuration diagram of a cooling systemaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a power supply configuration diagram of a cooling systemaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a graph for explaining an increase in the cooling mediumtemperature with respect to the time after a power supply breakdown inthe embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a power supply configuration diagram of a cooling systemaccording to a reference art.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT

In a pump power supply configuration of the cooling system according tothe reference art illustrated in FIG. 4 described above, when the firstpower supply 231 or the second power supply 232 has a breakdown and theoutput power supply is lost, it leads to a situation where all the pumpsof the first pump group 210 or the second pump group 220 stop.Therefore, there is a problem that, when power supply is continued tothe heat-generating element of the stopped circulation cooling system,boiling occurs in a short period of time and breaks the heating-elementbody.

It is possible to prevent the breakage of the circulation cooling systemby stopping the power supply to the heat-generating element in a shorttime by monitoring the number of pump rotations and detecting the powersupply breakdown. However, in a server apparatus for example, suddenstopping of a heat-generating part (a CPU and the like) leads to loss ofprocessing data and destruction of data of the HDD (Hard Disk Drive)apparatus. In such a case, there is a problem that it leads to adecrease in the system reliability.

Hereinafter, a cooling system according to an embodiment is explainedwith reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an apparatus configuration diagram of a cooling system 1according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a power supply configuration diagram of a cooling system 1according to the present embodiment.

The cooling system 1 includes a first pump group 10, a second pump group20, a first power supply 31, a second power supply 32, a circulationpath 40, a heat exchanger 50, a fan 60, a first heat receiving unit 71and a second heat receiving unit 72.

The first pump group 10 includes first-sixth 6 pumps 11-16 being sixunits (an example of a plurality) of pumps. While the details aredescribed later, the first-sixth pumps 11-16 of the first pump group 10circulates a cooling medium R to cool a first part 101 of which exampleis a heat-generating part such as a CPU mounted on a circuit board inthe circulation path 40.

In a similar manner, in the second pump group 20, first-sixth pumps21-26 being six units (an example of a plurality) of pumps circulate acooling medium R to cool a second part 102 of which example is aheat-generating part such as a CPU mounted on a circuit board in thecirculation path 40.

The first pump group 10 and the second pump group 20 may be mounted on acircuit board on which the first part 101 and the second part 102 aremounted.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, a first power supply 31 (DDC #0:DC-DCconverter) supplies electric power (Vo#0) to first-third pumps 11-13(PUMP01-03) being an example of a part of pumps of the first pump group10, and first-third pumps 21-23 (PUMP 11-13) being an example of a partof pumps of the second pump group 20.

A second power supply 32 (DDC #1:DC-DC converter) supplies electricpower (Vo#1) to a fourth-sixth pumps 14-16 (PUMP04-06) being an exampleof other pumps of the first pump group 10, and fourth-sixth pumps 24-26(PUMP 24-26) being an example of other pumps of the second pump group20.

The circulation path 40 forms a flow path to let the cooling medium R gothrough the first pump group 10, the second pump group 20, and a firstheat receiving unit 71 that receives heat generated from the first part101, and a second heat receiving unit 72 that receives heat generatedfrom the second part 102.

The circulation path 40 branches into a branch path 41 that goes throughthe first heat receiving unit 71 and a second branch path 42 that goesthrough the second heat receiving unit 72, being an example of aplurality of branch paths. The branching position is, preferably, on theway from the heat exchanger 50 towards the first part 101 and the secondpart 102.

The first pump group 10 is arranged in parallel in the first branch path41, and the second pump group 20 is arranged in parallel in the secondbranch path 42. The first branch path 41 and the second branch path 42of the circulation path 40 merges after going through the first heatreceiving unit 71 and the second heat receiving unit 72, respectively,and form a flow path that leads to the heat exchange 50.

The first pump group 10 is located, in the first branch path 41, betweenthe heat exchanger 50 and the heat receiving unit 71. Meanwhile, thesecond pump group 20 is located, in the second branch path 42, betweenthe heat exchanger 50 and the second heat receiving unit 72.

The heat exchanger 50 releases the heat of the cooling medium R by airblow from a fan 60, for example. The cooling medium is a fluid forexample.

The first heat receiving unit 71 is provided on the first part 101, andreceives heat generated from the first part 101. The first part 101 iscooled with the first heat receiving unit 71 being cooled by the coolingmedium R of the first branch path 41 of the circulation path 40.

The second heat receiving unit 72 is provided on the second part 102,and receives heat generated from the second part 102. The second part102 is cooled with the second heat receiving unit 72 being cooled by thecooling medium R of the second branch path 42 of the circulation path40.

According to this, the low-temperature cooling medium R (L) of whichheat is released by the heat exchanger 50 becomes the high-temperaturecooling medium R (H) represented by halftone dots in FIG. 1 by heattransfer from the first heat receiving unit 71 and the second heatreceiving unit 72.

FIG. 3 is a graph for explaining an increase in the cooling mediumtemperature with respect to the time after a power supply breakdown inthe embodiment.

First, as in the cooling system according to the reference art(comparison example) illustrated in FIG. 4, a case in which the firstpower supply 231 supplies electric power to all the pumps 211-216 of thefirst pump group 210, and the second power supply 232 supplies electricpower to all the pumps 221-226 of the second pump group 220 isconsidered. Meanwhile, the first pump group 210 circulates a coolingmedium in the first part not illustrated in the drawing, and the secondpump group 220 circulates a cooling medium in the second part notillustrated in the drawing.

In the case of this reference art, when the first power supply 231 orthe second power supply 232 (DDC in FIG. 3) has a breakdown, all thepumps of the first pump group 10 or the second pump group 20. Therefore,as indicated by a solid line in FIG. 3 (WHEN PUMP 6 UNITS STOP), thecooling medium temperature Twc before the breakdown rises rapidly andsoon reaches the boiling temperature Twb, and a breakage occurs in thepart being the cooling target in t1 time after the power supplybreakdown.

Next, as in the cooling system 1 according to the present embodimentillustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a case in which the first power supply31 supplies electric power to a part of pumps 11-13 of the first pumpgroup 10 and a part of pumps 21-23 of the second pump group 20, and thesecond power supply 32 supplies electric power to another part of pumps14-16 of the first pump group 10 and another part of pumps 24-26 of thesecond pump group 20 is considered.

In this case of the present embodiment, even when the first power supply31 or the second power supply 32 (DDC in FIG. 3) has a breakdown, only apart (three units in the present embodiment) of pumps of the first pumpgroup 10 or the second pump group 20 stop. Therefore, as indicated by abroken line in FIG. 3 (WHEN PUMP 3 UNITS STOP), the cooling mediumtemperature Twc before the breakdown rises moderately and reaches theboiling temperature Twb, and no breakage occurs in the first part 101 orthe second part 102 being the cooling target until t2 time that is twicethe length of t1 time in the comparison example.

As described above, when the first power supply 31 and the second powersupply 32 have a breakdown, the breakage of the first part 101 and thesecond part 101 may be delayed with a fewer number of pumps stopped.Therefore, it is preferable that the number of pumps (in the presentembodiment, three units) of the first pump group 10 to which the firstpower supply 31 supplies electric power and the number of pumps (in thisexample, three units) of the second pump group 20 to which the firstpower supply 31 supplies electric power are the same or different byone.

Meanwhile, it is preferable that the number of pumps (in the presentembodiment, three units) of the first pump group 10 to which the secondpower supply 32 supplies electric power and the number of pumps (in thisexample, three units) of the second pump group 20 to which the secondpower supply 32 supplies electric power are the same or different byone.

Accordingly, when the first power supply 31 and the second power supply32 have a breakdown, the maximum value of the number of stopped pumpunits in the first pump group 10 and the second pump group 20 may bereduced, and the breakage of the first part 101 and the second part 102may be delayed.

In the present embodiment described above, the first pump group 10includes a plurality of pumps 11-16 that circulate the cooling medium Rto cool the first part 101, and the second pump group 20 includes aplurality of pumps 21-26 that circulate the cooling medium R to cool thesecond part 102. The first power supply 31 supplies electric power to apart of pumps 11-13 of the first pump group 10 and a part of pumps 21-23of the second pump group 20. The second power supply 32 supplieselectric power to another part of pumps 14-16 of the first pump group 10and another part of pumps 24-26 of the second pump group 20.

Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the stop of all the pumps of thefirst pump group 10 and or the second pump group 20 when the first powersupply 31 or the second power supply 32 has a breakdown, and to suppressthe rapid rise of the temperature of the temperature of the coolingmedium R, and thus the temperature of the part 101 and the part 102.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the time at the time ofbreakdown of the first power supply 31 or the second power supply 32until the first pat 101 and the second part 102 cooled by the coolingmedium R are broken may be extended. Accordingly, the reliability of thecooling system 1 improves, as, for example, the first part 101 and thesecond part 102 may be stopped safely using the extended time. Inaddition, since the reliability of the cooling system 1 may be improvedwithout making the power supply redundant, the layout space of mountedparts is increased, and high-density mounting also becomes possible.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the circulation path 40 forms aflow path to let the cooling medium R go through the first pump group10, the second pump group 20, the first heat receiving unit 71 and thesecond heat receiving unit 72, and branches into a plurality of branchpaths including the first branch path 41 that goes through the firstheat receiving unit 71, and the second branch path 42 that goes throughthe second heat receiving unit 72. The first pump group 10 is arrangedin parallel in the first branch path 41, and the second pump group 20 isarranged in parallel in the second branch path 42. Therefore, the timeuntil the first part 101 and the second part 102 are broken may beextended with a simple configuration. Therefore, a higher-densitymounting is also possible.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the circulation path 40 branchesinto a plurality of branch paths 41, 42 on the way from the heatexchanger 50 towards the first heat receiving unit 71 and the secondheat receiving unit 72. The first pump group 10 is located between theheat exchanger 50 and the first heat receiving unit 71, and the secondpump group 20 is located between the heat exchanger 50 and the secondheat receiving unit 72. For this reason, the first pump group 10 and thesecond pump group 20 are able to circulate the cooling medium R at theposition where the low-temperature cooling medium R(L) of which heat isreleased by the heat exchanger 50 goes through, and the durability ofthe first pump group 10 and the second pump group 20 may be improved.Therefore, the reliability of the cooling system 1 is further improved.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the number of pumps of the firstpump group 10 to which the first power supply 31 supplies electric powerand the number of pumps of the second pump group 20 to which the firstpower supply 31 supplies electric power are the same (or different byone). The number of pumps of the first pump group 10 to which the secondpower supply 32 supplies electric power and the number of pumps of thesecond pump group 20 to which the second power supply 32 supplieselectric power are the same (or different by one). For this reason, whenthe first power supply 31 and the second power supply 32 have abreakdown, the maximum value of the number of stopped pump units in thefirst pump group 10 and the second pump group 20 may be reduced, and thetime until the first part 101 and the second part 102 are broken may beextended.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the cooling system 1 includes twopump groups in total, the first pump group 10 that circulates thecooling medium R to cool the first part 101 and the second pump group 20that circulate the cooling medium R to cool the second part 102.However, the cooling system 1 may also be configured to include three ormore pump groups such as a third pump group that circulates the coolingmedium R to cool a third part.

Meanwhile, while the cooling system 1 includes the first power supply 31and the second power supply 32 in the present embodiment, three or morepower supplies may be included such as a third power supply thatsupplies a part of pumps of the first pump group 10 and a part of pumpsof the second pump group 20.

Meanwhile, while the number of power supplies 31, 32 is the same as thenumber of the pump groups 10, 20, the number of the power supplies maybe larger than the number of the pump groups, and vice versa, thenumber.

All examples and conditional language provided herein are intended forthe pedagogical purposes of aiding the reader in understanding theinvention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to further theart, and are not to be construed as limitations to such specificallyrecited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of suchexamples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority andinferiority of the invention. Although one or more embodiments of thepresent invention have been described in detail, it should be understoodthat the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be madehereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cooling system comprising: a first pump groupcomprising a plurality of pumps that circulates a cooling medium to coola first part; a second pump group comprising a plurality of pumps thatcirculates a cooling medium to cool a second part; a first power supplythat supplies electric power to apart of the pumps of the first pumpgroup and a part of the pumps of the second pump group; and a secondpower supply that supplies electric power to another part of the pumpsof the first pump group and another part of the pumps of the second pumpgroup.
 2. The cooling system according to claim 1, further comprising: afirst heat receiving unit that receives heat generated from the firstpart; a second heat receiving unit that receives heat generated from thesecond part; and a circulation path that forms a flow path to let thecooling medium go through the first pump group, the second pump group,the first heat receiving unit and the second heat receiving unit;wherein the circulation path branches into a plurality of branch pathsincluding a first branch path going through the first heat receivingunit and a second branch path going through the second heat receivingunit; the first pump group is arranged in parallel in the first branchpath; and the second pump group is arranged in parallel in the secondbranch path.
 3. The cooling system according to claim 2, furthercomprising a heat exchanger that releases heat of the cooling medium,wherein the circulation path branches into the plurality of branch pathson away from the heat exchanger to the first heat receiving unit and thesecond receiving unit; the first pump group is located between the heatexchanger and the first heat receiving unit; and the second pump groupis located between the heat exchanger and the second heat receivingunit.
 4. The cooling system according to claim 1, wherein a number ofthe pumps of the first pump group to which the first power supplysupplies electric power and a number of the pumps of the second pumpgroup to which the first power supply supplies electricity is same ofdifferent by one; and a number of the pumps of the first pump group towhich the second power supply supplies electric power and a number ofthe pumps of the second pump group to which the second power supplysupplies electricity is same of different by one.
 5. The cooling systemaccording to claim 2, wherein a number of the pumps of the first pumpgroup to which the first power supply supplies electric power and anumber of the pumps of the second pump group to which the first powersupply supplies electricity is same of different by one; and a number ofthe pumps of the first pump group to which the second power supplysupplies electric power and a number of the pumps of the second pumpgroup to which the second power supply supplies electricity is same ofdifferent by one.
 6. The cooling system according to claim 3, wherein anumber of the pumps of the first pump group to which the first powersupply supplies electric power and a number of the pumps of the secondpump group to which the first power supply supplies electricity is sameof different by one; and a number of the pumps of the first pump groupto which the second power supply supplies electric power and a number ofthe pumps of the second pump group to which the second power supplysupplies electricity is same of different by one.